Over the River and Through the Woods

In high school, my church youth group would take a group of us camping and called it Wilderness. I was talked into going a couple times by my now husband. It's a pretty rustic area - you don't have to pay to stay in the campground, but there are only pit toilets and a river.

My husband goes there a lot when he's hunting, but it's probably been about 6 years or so since I've been there. We took the boys there this weekend.

Here's Malachi enjoying himself in the icy-cold glacier water. I was not so keen to go wading in it (I remember washing my hair in that frigid water back in the day... and it's not so pleasant), but I did get far enough in to snap a couple pretty pictures of the landscape.  The boys are hanging out in the tent and then there is the lovely picture of Malachi and the coyote. He and my husband went "bear hunting" and came back with a coyote. Apparently Malachi spotted it and he was so excited (can you tell from the look on his face in this picture??). I guess I have a natural born hunter on my hands.

We also did some hiking. The original hike we were looking for was VERY hard. WAY harder than I expected. The site I found it on said "good for kids" which was a total lie. See that narrow little path in the second picture on the bottom? That was where we stopped and turned around. I didn't take that picture at an angle - that's how steep it was. Holding a 25lb person on your back doesn't help you when you need all your balance. Malachi was terrified he was going to fall down the mountain.

We did find another remote trail that we walked down for awhile and that was fun. We found some good views and some insects that Malachi enjoyed chasing. I love the picture of Shaun and Malachi looking out at the mountains. =) Zachary can only handle so much hiking though... then he decides to scream the rest of the way - which is not so fun for the rest of us.

All in all a fun trip! This will probably be our last camping trip of the summer, but I'm still hoping to get in some more hiking in late-Summer and Fall. I just love the time outdoors with our family. Good memory-makers!

Catching Up!

Oh no... I have been a bad blogger lately. I have a lot to say actually, but I just don't find the time to get in to the computer and write it down. I am thinking I need to try a little harder. I was trying to decide WHY I blog the other day... and the real reason is record things I want to be able to look back and remember later. Obviously that's not going to work out so well if I don't write it down!

Here's a little conversation my mom had with Malachi the other night when I was at work:

Malachi: My mom's going to have another baby, but she doesn't have it right now. I want a baby sister and I'd name her Gumdrop. I like that name. Grandma: What if it isn't a girl? You can't choose, you have to take what you get. Malachi: Oh, I'd like a baby brother so Zachary could have a baby. I'd share my bed and Eli and my dog with Gumdrop. I could carry Gumdrop around because he'd be a little baby, not like Zachary.

I've been making a big effort to get us out to visit some of the sites in our area. I bought one of the Discover Pass's, which is a $30 vehicle pass that you have to have to park at the state parks here. It's $10 for a day visit or $30 for the year. I figure I need to use it at least 4 times to make it worth it! So far we've done our trip to McLane Creek Nature Trail and Tolmie State Park (which is, apparently, one of those things I didn't blog about). We also visited the Nisqually Nature Wildlife Reserve on June 8th. That wasn't something we needed our pass for, but was a great walk with the kids.

I have all these great intentions of doing these fun walks.... but unfortunately, I think Zachary is going to try to thwart my efforts. He doesn't like spending large amounts of time in my carrier - which is annoying when you don't want to take a stroller.

On our trip to the Nisqually NWR it went something like this:

• Started out with Zach on my back in the Ergo carrier.
• Halfway down the trail he starts fussing and I'm walking/bouncing to keep him happy. 
• A little farther he's crying - so Daddy takes him out and carries him (which makes Zach super happy)
• At the halfway point, where we have to turn around, I say "maybe he'd like it better if he was on the front and he feels more 'carried'". So I turn it around and put him in the front. 
• This works for about 1/4 of the trip back and at this point I'm walking so funny to try to keep him happy that my leg is tired and I still have a screaming baby attached to me. People are staring at me and giving me those "poor girl" looks as they pass me.
• Finally, I take one shoulder strap off and with him half in and half out of the carrier, I hold him the rest of the way. This makes him perfectly happy because he's being carried in my arms and not in the carrier. Daddy at this point was carrying a tired Malachi on his shoulder.

I kept telling Zachary that I have big plans for all our hiking trips this summer and that he's just going to have to get used to it. It's not like he's never been in it before, but apparently he's made the decision he likes a little more freedom of movement.... but this momma doesn't have enough arm strength to carry him that far! Notice the happy face in the picture below... that is almost at the end of the hike... and he's super happy to be free!

Nature Walk

This past Monday was my birthday. We had celebrated with family all weekend, so I was trying to think of something to do that was kind of low-key. It has been unseasonably warm here in the Pacific NW this past 10 days or so and I really wanted to get outside to do something! I checked out a few local hiking trails and found one I'd never been too.

Malachi loved it OF COURSE. There were bugs flying around and salamanders swimming in the water (eww!). At first Zach enjoyed his ride on Daddy's back, but about 3/4 through he wanted to be held - by me - the rest of the way around the loop. Oh well. =) It was a very fun trip - we ate lunch at a little picnic area and then walked the trails for a fun family time.